


when the glitter fades

by GuardianKarenTerrier



Series: Week Three: Talents [5]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Autistic Adrien Agreste, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Platonic Marichat - Freeform, Podfic Welcome, Protective Plagg, good cat dad plagg, still counts if adrien doesn't realise he's hurting right, supportive marinette
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-24
Updated: 2019-08-24
Packaged: 2020-09-25 09:15:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,420
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20374342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GuardianKarenTerrier/pseuds/GuardianKarenTerrier
Summary: Plagg watches in frustration as Adrien tries again and fails again to tug his arm out of Chloe's grasp.  Instead of trying another time, like Plagg keeps telling the kid he needs to do, Adrien gives up after only those first few futile attempts.Plagg curls up smaller in Adrien's pocket and pointedly scratches at his chosen, though he's careful not to actually break skin. Adrien's minute flinch is enough to let Plagg know the kid has noticed, but he still doesn't pull away, even though Plagg can feel the way he's gone tense and stiff like he's desperate to get Chloe to let go of him.





	when the glitter fades

**Author's Note:**

> for the 'flirt' prompt for adrienaugreste
> 
> thanks shinobicyrus!

Plagg watches in frustration as Adrien tries again and fails again to tug his arm out of Chloe's grasp. Instead of _ trying another time_, like Plagg keeps _ telling _ the kid he needs to do, Adrien gives up after only those first few futile attempts. 

Plagg curls up smaller in Adrien's pocket and pointedly scratches at his chosen, though he's careful not to actually break skin. Adrien's minute flinch is enough to let Plagg know the kid has noticed, but he _ still _doesn't pull away, even though Plagg can feel the way he's gone tense and stiff like he's desperate to get Chloe to let go of him. 

Plagg doesn't like Adrien's dad for an entire growing list of reasons, but the way Adrien has evidently never learned that he's allowed to set his own boundaries has been hovering towards the top of the list for a while now. It isn't _ quite _ at the top, but that's because Plagg does _ not _ like being caged, and no matter what weak excuses Adrien still tries to make for his parents that mansion is a _ cage_. It doesn't _ matter _ that it's a fancy cage, it's still a cage, and Plagg knows that _ Adrien _knows that deep down whether or not he admits it.

Plagg hasn't forgotten the kid's nightmare from Sandboy's attack. He won’t let himself forget, after leaving his chosen like that. He feels himself start to bristle and growl at the thought of bars slamming down around them, trapping them, and Plagg _ always _ has Cataclysm to fall back on. Adrien does _ not_, as much as Plagg has started to wish he did. If Plagg had a way to teach it to him he _ would_. 

But the kid gets out with his Ladybug, at least. He doesn't have a problem asking Plagg to transform him to escape. Plagg would rather leave and not have to come _ back_, but hell, Plagg has seen weirder rules in human societies than whatever the ones keeping Adrien in the mansion are. 

Adrien _ does _ have problems with saying no, and not letting people walk all over him, and with sacrificing his own personal comfort and safety for others. He has those problems even with Ladybug, who would never want him to do any of those things for her, who has specifically asked him to _ stop _ doing those things for her.

And Plagg can hear Ladybug right now, talking to her reporter friend on the other side of the classroom, and he _ knows _ that Ladybug doesn't like it when Chloe clings to Adrien like this either. If Plagg can somehow get her attention without giving himself or his chosen away, she'll-

She might do something. She might not, she might still be too nervous with his kid in a way she isn't when they're transformed.

If the two _ were _ transformed it would be so easy, because Ladybug would have noticed and gotten Chat Noir out of the situation immediately without ever needing to be asked, but apparently when the two aren't in costume there's some kind of stupid social structure in place that doesn't allow for that. It's enough to make Plagg want to ignore the stupid secret identity thing entirely just so they can _ get somewhere _ with these kids.

Plagg doesn't manage to attract Ladybug's attention, anyway. Thankfully something distracts Chloe enough for Adrien to slip loose and escape to his desk. 

Plagg usually flits down to Adrien's bag once they're seated, but he stays stubbornly where he is today and scratches at Adrien in frustration again. Not hard enough to hurt- Plagg doesn't want to hurt him- but hard enough that Adrien can't possibly miss his disapproval. 

He used to be wary of doing even that much, because the first few times he'd been upset with Adrien the kid had outright _ panicked_. 

(He'd thought Plagg was going to leave. Plagg hadn't even actually _ been _ upset the first time, he'd just been complaining about running out of cheese because- well, because that's just what Plagg _ does_, sometimes, and Adrien had thought that he was going to _ leave _ and not come back-)

He doesn't get a chance to really talk to the kid without interruptions until later that night, during the lull between Adrien going to his room and leaving for patrol. 

Plagg doesn't like that either, the way Adrien goes straight to his room from dinner without a whisper of complaint. 

And from what Plagg understands, Adrien is doing _ better_ than before. He'd started pushing back even before he met Plagg, and he's only started testing limits more frequently and more intensely since, but there's _ still _so many ingrained habits and behaviours he has trouble letting go of.

It's only once the door is shut behind them, the Gorilla having already taken up guard position on the other side of it, that Plagg can finally flit into the open and let out some of his mounting frustration. "_Kid_, why'd you let the harpy hang all over you like that earlier?"

"It's not nice to call Chloe a harpy, Plagg," Adrien says mildly, already fiddling with his phone to set it up with a piano recording. He's at least set it to play Tchaikovsky this time, which considering his father's preferences and strict enforcement of said preferences actually _ is _ a minor act of rebellion for Adrien. "Besides, she wasn't hurting anyone."

"Right," Plagg drawls, as sarcastically as he knows how. Sarcasm is in Plagg's nature, but bluntness is what Adrien needs, and it had taken Plagg time to find a balance between the two. "So when you were holding yourself like a plank of wood, that was, what, just for fun?"

Adrien's shoulders hunch and he studies the piano keys intently. He doesn't respond, which is answer enough in itself.

"Kid, you gotta know you _ don't _ gotta put up with that kinda thing." Plagg settles on Adrien's shoulder, purring until Adrien finally starts to lose some of that sudden tension. "If you want her to stop you _ tell her to stop_."

"But she doesn't mean anything by it," Adrien says, softly, and Plagg's probably about to say something he'll regret right before Adrien adds, voice even quieter, "That's what she told me when I asked her to stop."

Plagg isn't prone to headaches. Kwami in general aren't prone to headaches.

Plagg has a headache.

"Adrien," he says, trying very hard to keep any sign of aggravation out of his tone. "When did you ask her to stop?"

Adrien shrugs, and his shoulders stay hunched up around his ears again. "I don't exactly remember. When we were kids, maybe."

"And she never-" Plagg stops, because no, that's it, if he says anything else he'll sound _ angry _ and he hasn't done that around Adrien since the day the kid's dad had locked himself in his study and started breaking things.

(Plagg wants Adrien _ out of this house_).

"Stopped?" Adrien finishes, because he's not actually an idiot. "She might have for a little while, before she helped me get into school. I don't really remember, honestly."

Plagg throws his paws in the air. "You know what, kid, this ain't my jurisdiction anymore. You want to know why that's not okay? Go and ask one of your friends about it! Ask _ any _ of your friends about it! They're _ all _ gonna tell you that at some point, you just gotta start shoving Chloe off!"

Adrien had taken next to no convincing to give a fan verging on a stalker his personal e-mail address. He's _ lucky _ that Wayhem has turned out to be mostly harmless, and neither of them can count on luck holding out for them. Plagg really wants to curb his chosen's tendency to submit so easily to other people sooner rather than later. 

Part of that has involved getting the kid transformed more and more frequently, because Chat Noir is a bit better at setting boundaries than Adrien is. (So is a _ fence_, but that isn't the point). Getting him to spend more time as Chat Noir had taken _ no _ effort and while that's in Plagg's favour, it's not a good sign.

But Plagg's glad when Adrien does transform, as soon as he has a convincing enough playlist queued, and thankfully only after acknowledging some of Plagg's suggestions.

* * *

Adrien normally goes to Ladybug for advice any time Plagg isn't an option.(Or even when Plagg is, but Adrien himself hasn't been listening to him as well as he should).

But going to Ladybug requires Ladybug being out and transformed, too,

He searches the city for her, starting off with an attempt at an actual organised grid search that quickly devolves into looking forlornly through their usual meeting spots as his energy and attention span both start to flag. He really does need to talk to her, which of course means she's nowhere to be found tonight.

He finally comes to a halt crouched behind someone's chimney, tail lashing anxiously as he groans and presses the heels of his hands to his eyes. They feel gritty with missed sleep, but he would only be lying awake staring at the ceiling and listening to Plagg snore if he tried to sleep right now. 

He _ might _ be listening to Plagg snore. He might be listening to Plagg ask him increasingly pointed questions instead. 

Adrien's not sure how to make his kwami understand that Chloe- Chloe isn't _ really _ flirting with him, that isn't what she means by it at all. Adrien does wish she'd find some other way to express herself, because he's starting to understand that it _ must _ look like flirting to everyone else if that's what even _ Plagg _ is picking up from it, but he knows that Chloe has difficulty saying what she means. 

At least, he thinks she does. He'd had to ask her what she meant so often as kids that he'd assumed it was something she had trouble with.

But now that Adrien's around other people their age, he's finding that he has to ask most people that. He even has to ask Plagg and Nino, sometimes, although Plagg is typically straightforward and usually Nino's already rewording his sentence long before Adrien can finish asking. So maybe- maybe it never really _ was _ Chloe. 

Something on the balcony behind the chimney falls over with a clatter. 

Adrien's head jerks up, tail whipping defensively around his ankles as he rocks back on his heels, and comes face to face with Marinette.

He's glad his mask hides the way he feels himself redden. 

How did he not notice he's ended up on Marinette's balcony? He's been here enough times that he should have. He'd just- gone running across so much of the city already tonight that he hadn't paid enough attention to where he'd stopped. 

"Sorry!" Marinette says hastily, stooping to right the planter she'd knocked over. "Sorry, I didn't mean to-" She stops, brows furrowing, as she looks at him and Adrien tries very hard not to shrink in on himself at the sudden scrutiny. "Hey, are you all right? You're usually a lot more-" She makes a vague hand gesture, like she doesn't know to finish her sentence.

Adrien straightens a little, ears flicking, as he realises Marinette is someone he could talk to. Marinette is someone he _ has _ talked to, and while she seems uneasy around him when he’s Adrien, she's never seemed to have a problem with Chat Noir. Even as Adrien, any time he's really _ needed _ her help she's found enough of her usual confidence to help him. 

"I was looking for Ladybug, but I don't think she's out tonight," he admits, absently accepting Marinette's hand down onto the balcony itself. "I had something I wanted to ask her about. Something that my, uh-" He's about to say 'kwami' but catches himself just in time. Just because one of _ his _ usual sources of advice is his kwami doesn't mean that he won't sound very odd to anyone else if he brings up anything about it, and it's only the other Miraculous holders who know what the kwami are, anyway. "A friend told me I should ask her advice on something, since I-" Adrien winces. "Well, I haven't been listening to his."

Marinette frowns at him, before tugging him very gently after her to a folding chaise lounge and sitting down after him. They don't really fit that well, but sitting sideways on it with their backs to the wall leaves them both comfortable enough. 

Adrien realises after a few minutes that it also leaves them both out of sight from anyone nearby.

Adrien ignores the voice in his head that points out how easily he could have slipped right back out of her grasp, how clearly she would have let him. That little voice sounds a lot like Plagg.

"Maybe I can help, since you can't find her?" Marinette suggests, leaning back against the wall and dragging one foot along the roof. "If you're okay with that, I mean. If it's something you _ have _ to talk to Ladybug about I'm sure you'll run into her pretty soon, anyway."

"That's true, but I think my- friend is gonna be annoyed at me if I don't talk to someone tonight," Adrien admits, grasping his tail in both hands and staring at it rather than at Marinette. Marinette seems to get flustered when he looks at her too long in class, and Adrien doesn't really understand eye contact anyway; he knows people have told him it's important, but they haven't explained why, or how _ long _ he's supposed to make eye contact, or why it seems to mean different things in different contexts, and looking it up on his own hasn't been anywhere near as helpful as he'd hoped.

He feels Marinette's worried glance even if he doesn't see it, though. "So it's urgent, then?"

Adrien shrugs, still not looking up. "Sort of? I guess? He thinks it is, anyway, I- I don't, really. It's not anything new," he adds quickly, when it finally occurs to him what Chat Noir showing up looking for Ladybug in a hurry might look like to Marinette. "It's not even that important."

Marinette rests a hand lightly on her shoulder. "It’s important to your friend, if he wants you to talk to someone about it _ tonight_."

"I- guess." Adrien frowns, struggling to figure out how to put his question into words. He probably should have thought that part through before even leaving to look for Ladybug. He could have asked Plagg about it, if it he'd thought of it sooner, because even if Plagg _ is _ frustrated with him he'd still have helped. "There's someone- um, I don't know how to say this right."

Marinette shrugs and he feels the movement against his side, against his shoulder. It doesn't feel at all the way he did with Chloe clinging to him earlier and it dawns on him that _ that's _ probably part of what Plagg meant. Adrien doesn't tend to pull away from anyone, but Marinette would let him, the way he's sure that Ladybug would let him and the way that Chloe _ won't_. 

"Then say it _wrong_ and we'll figure it out after,” Marinette tells him. “That way you'll have said it instead of just worrying about it."

He does look at her at that, flashing her a grateful smile. "That's really smart of you, Marinette."

She doesn't quite flush as she meets his eyes, but it's a close thing. "Thanks, ki- Chat, but I can't take credit for it. It's something a friend told _ me _ first. Now don't stall, what's bothering you this much?"

Adrien can see Alya giving that advice, now that he thinks about it. "There's someone who sort of-" He rubs the back of his neck and laughs a little, self-deprecatingly. "This is more embarrassing to admit to than I thought. There's someone who flirts with me a lot, and I- want them- to stop?" His voice pitches up uncertainly towards the end.

He waits for Marinette to laugh, too, because he's heard her mention what a flirt Chat Noir is before. (He doesn't actually mean to be outside of flirting with Ladybug, but he knows he won't be able to explain that very well). 

Marinette doesn't laugh. 

Marinette's hand presses a little harder on his shoulder before withdrawing and he glances quickly at her again. 

The look she's giving him is _ concerned_. "Chat Noir, have you _ asked _them to stop before?"

He grimaces, turning away and rubbing the back of his neck again. "I- I used to. But they'd agree and then not really follow through, so I sort of quit trying." He shrugs, trying to unseat the sudden restless feeling itching between his shoulder blades. "It's not that important, anyway, I can ignore it."

Marinette rubs her forehead, slumping forwards slightly. "Chat Noir, if you're here talking to me, _ and _ your friend wanted you to ask someone about it tonight instead of waiting, then it _ is _ important." She frowns. "You've asked and they're still- wait." She sits up again, suddenly vibrating with indignation. "When you say flirting- what do you mean by flirting?"

Caught off-balance, Adrien doesn't think about it before he answers. "I'm-I'm not sure? They keep touching me and won't stop, and they say a lot of things..." Adrien trails off, suddenly very acutely aware of how that sounds out loud. 

And when he looks at her again Marinette looks torn between horrified and murderous. 

"But if it's just flirting, that's harmless," he tries, weakly. "Isn't- isn't it?"

"No!" Marinette exclaims, not looking the least bit less upset. "No, kit- Chat Noir, it's _ not _ harmless, you told them to _ stop_." She gestures at all of him. "And you're here and upset, so it's pretty obviously harming _you_!"

"I'm not _ hurt_," he starts, a little indignantly, and Marinette shakes her head sharply and turns away for a moment to bite down on one of her knuckles. 

She looks a little calmer when she turns back to him. "You flirt with Ladybug, right?"

Adrien swallows, suddenly anxious in a way he hasn't been in a long time. "Do you mean I'm making _ her _ feel like this?" His heart drops to the soles of his feet at the thought. He _ never _ wants Ladybug to feel like this.

"No, Chat," Marinette says, gently. "I mean that if Ladybug told her you were making her feel uncomfortable, or worse, _ unsafe _-" She eyes him in a way that makes Adrien feel surprisingly self-conscious. "You would stop. Wouldn't you?"

He drops his eyes again. "I don't know. I don't- it's not that conscious. The flirting," he clarifies. 

Marinette starts to say something else, stops, and then restarts. "Okay, but if she said, like, that she didn't like you touching her. Would you keep doing it? Outside of battle, I know that's different," she adds quickly, before Adrien can respond.

He frowns, picking at his tail as he thinks about it. "I mean, of course not. But I- I'd still probably slip up sometimes? Because I really love her, and we've always been really- we've always relied a lot on physical contact."

He misses whatever expression Marinette makes at that, because she wipes it off her face too quickly for him to figure out what it's about. "Okay, so maybe Ladybug isn't the best example. How about this?" She leans a little harder against his side, just enough to remind him that they've been sharing a small space for this whole conversation. "Does it bother you that _ we've _ been sitting this close?"

"No," Adrien says, honestly. Right up until Marinette asked he hadn't even thought of it. "Wait, does it bother _ you_?"

"Chat Noir," she says, patiently. "If it did, I would have moved. What makes this different?"

"...that you'd have let me move," he says, slowly. Chloe would have wrapped herself around his arm and _ anchored _ him in place, ignoring any of Adrien's increasingly desperate hints that he'd really rather not be trapped in one spot. Marinette had left both taking a seat and staying there entirely up to him, and he definitely hasn't had the sense at any point that she'd have been angry if he'd gotten up. 

Marinette looks upset again. "If they aren't listening when you tell them to leave you alone, kitty, you have _ every _ right to move, okay? Shove them off if you have to."

"I don't want to hurt her." Adrien's tail flicks in agitation. "She's not trying to hurt me."

"Chat Noir, this?" Marinette rests a hand on his shoulder again. "This is you, _ hurt_, by her because she won't listen to you. Because she’s not respecting your boundaries or your wishes! Can your friend help? The one that wanted you to talk to Ladybug?"

Adrien winces as he thinks about what Plagg's version of help is likely to look like. "Maybe, but that's probably a bad idea."

"If you can't get her to stop on your own, then you should still let him help," Marinette says firmly. "Ask any of your other friends, too, for that matter. I'm sure if they knew how much this was getting to you they'd jump in to help."

"All right." Adrien shifts a little in his seat, feeling like that has to be the end of the conversation, but not particularly wanting to leave just yet.

Marinette doesn't ask him to. She turns out to have been having trouble sleeping herself, and in the end Adrien stays the rest of the night on her balcony once she ducks inside for a deck of cards and a plate of cookies.

They both end up sprawled out on the floor of the balcony for most of the night and Adrien is far more aware than usual of both how close they shift to each other and how easy it is to move away if he needs to. He's not so easily overwhelmed by touch as he used to be, not since he's been spending so much time with Ladybug and in battles, but he still craves it more than he's ever admitted to anyone but Plagg. 

He's pretty sure Ladybug has some idea, but he hasn't _ admitted _ to it.

Marinette might have some idea, too, because they end up side by side even when that makes their card games harder. They've mostly been playing War, though, as the only two-player card game Marinette knows and one of the only card games Adrien knows at all, and they don't need to be in any particular position to play that. 

It's only when Marinette's alarm goes off in the morning that Adrien finally leaves, in between hasty apologies for keeping her up all night.

"If I wanted you to leave, I'd have told you to leave," is Marinette's firm response, and Adrien winces inwardly but acknowledges that.

He only barely makes it back in time to be down for breakfast without raising suspicion, meaning he never does have time to talk to Plagg. He doesn't know if Plagg is disappointed in him for not going to Ladybug or not. 

But he hears Plagg's quiet little growl when, seconds after Adrien slips through his classroom door, Chloe has both arms tight around his neck and her face uncomfortably close to his. 

Chloe says something, too, but Adrien doesn't hear it. He's trying to remember all of Marinette's advice at once, and whatever Chloe is saying isn't likely to be very important. Chloe's admittedly been improving since her stints as Queen Bee but her attitude towards _ him _ hasn't really changed at all. 

"Chloe," he says, finally, trying at first to gently remove her and then trying harder when her hold only tightens. "Chloe, let _ go_."

“What?” She leans back to pout at him without actually removing her arms. "Why would you want me to do that, Adrikins?"

"Because I-" Adrien's eyes flit from her face over to his desk, where's Nino's giving him a deeply unhappy look. 

Behind him, Marinette is holding a pencil so tightly in one hand that it snaps abruptly.

The sound startles Adrien enough that he forgets about sparing Chloe's feelings, and he says flatly, "Because I don't _ like it _ when you grab me, Chloe, let _ go_."

He doesn't actually expect that to work.

It's a surprise when it does.

Chloe releases him and even takes a step back, her lip quivering. "Why didn't you say anything, Adrien?"

"I did say something!" Adrien exclaims in disbelief, inching away slightly in case she decides to turn and lunge for him again. "You did it anyway!"

Chloe drops her hurt expression, scoffing and turning away instead. "Well, maybe you should have been _ clearer _about it."

Adrien's mouth opens and closes, stunned, because he hadn't thought she would go there. It takes Plagg scratching at the inside of his pocket for Adrien to remember that no one else will even know what she _ means_, and then he simply goes to slide numbly into his seat next to Nino.

"Dude, good job," Nino says fervently, and Adrien blinks and looks up at him. "I'm _ serious_, dude, good job."

Adrien feels himself brighten at that, but he's pretty sure words are still beyond him, and now he's worried that someone will ask Chloe to clarify what she means by that. It's been- it's been _ years_, it's been over a decade, he'd honestly thought that Chloe had forgotten.

And Adrien's father will _ kill him _ if Chloe brings up how long it had taken Adrien to talk to her in complete sentences when they were kids. Father hasn't mentioned it in a long, long time, because once Adrien _ had _ started talking more _ stopping _ had been more the problem (at least, when he had someone to talk to), but Adrien is still well aware that Father hadn't been happy about it.

Alya leans over to their desk next, tapping a pencil eraser next to Adrien to let him know she's there. "Hey, you okay? Congratulations on telling off the harpy, sunshine."

Adrien hears Plagg snicker.

Adrien's suddenly a lot calmer. 

Chloe always will have been his first friend, but irritating her doesn't feel quite so much like the end of the world any more. Even if she really does start avoiding him it's been a long time now since she was his _only_ friend. 

"Yeah," he says finally, happiness bubbling up as he realises that even if he has to do this another hundred times he has plenty of support. He ducks his head and repeats, "Yeah. Yeah, I'm okay. Better than okay."

**Author's Note:**

> i am aromantic and flirting is a mystery okay
> 
> i also did not talk until _super late_ and it wasn't terribly comprehensible to anyone but twin for a while
> 
> title from 'from now on' from the greatest showman
> 
> marinettes advice wasnt from alya, kitty


End file.
